The RAIC Foundation has hired Jim Taggart, FRAIC, of Vancouver as its new Executive Director.
“On behalf of the Trustees of the RAIC Foundation, I am pleased to welcome Jim Taggart, FRAIC, as our Executive Director,” says Foundation Chair Stuart Howard, PP/FRAIC. “Jim has been a long-term advocate of architecture and architects, as a practicing architect, educator, and writer. I look forward to working with Jim on the Foundation’s many programs.”
Jim Taggart received his Master's degree in architecture from the University of Sheffield, England and worked in architecture and construction in the UK and Canada for 12 years. In 1993, he left professional practice to pursue parallel interests in education and communications. Since then, he has been involved in a wide variety of related activities, with the aim of broadening public engagement with the profession, and fostering excellence within it.
These activities include seven years with the communications department of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia; where he initiated the Architects in Schools and Architects in the Community programs. They also include 14 years teaching part-time in the Bachelor of Architectural Science program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, where he has developed courses in history, theory, sustainability and wood design. For the past 12 years, Jim has served as editor of the award-winning Sustainable Architecture and Building magazine (SABMag).
Jim has written or edited more than a dozen books on various aspects of architectural practice; his most notable area of specialty is the role of wood in contemporary architecture. His book Toward a Culture of Wood Architecture won an independent publishers’ (IPPY) award in 2012. Jim has also presented professional development seminars in more than 40 cities across North America, as well as in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australasia.
He was inducted into the RAIC College of Fellows in 2010 and was the recipient of the Premier of British Columbia’s Wood Champion Award in 2012.